Chapter 14 - THE DEAD WIFE WHO WAS STILL GETTING PAID
Rebecca Vale lived outside Montreal under her maiden name.
Canadian authorities located her within a day.
She initially refused to speak.
Then investigators mentioned Thomas Harper.
Rebecca changed her mind.
She agreed to a video interview with Evelyn present.
The woman on screen was sixty-three.
Dark hair streaked with gray.
Sharp eyes.
No visible surprise.
"Evelyn Harper."
"Rebecca Vale."
"I wondered when you would find me."
That sentence made everyone in the room uncomfortable.
"Why?"
"Because Thomas found me first."
Evelyn leaned forward.
"When?"
"Thirteen years ago."
Before his death.
"What did he want?"
"Information about Quentyn."
"Why did everyone believe you were dead?"
Rebecca smiled bitterly.
"Because Quentyn wanted everyone to believe it."
The supposed accident happened after Rebecca discovered Quentyn had emptied a business account belonging to her father.
She threatened to report him.
Quentyn threatened her.
Rebecca fled.
A burned vehicle later found near a ravine was mistakenly connected to her after personal belongings were discovered inside.
Rebecca never corrected the assumption.
"Why?"
"I was afraid."
"Why did Quentyn pay you?"
"Because eventually I contacted him."
"Blackmail?"
"Insurance."
Evelyn almost laughed at the word.
"What did you know?"
"Enough."
Rebecca said Quentyn had been running financial fraud schemes before he ever met Livia.
He changed methods after entering the Harper family.
Access to Thomas's corporate structures gave him scale.
"But he always had partners," Rebecca said.
"Wexler, Shaw, Cross?"
Rebecca's expression changed.
"You know those names."
"Yes."
"Then you don't need me."
"I need everything."
Rebecca looked at her for a long time.
"Helena Cross recruited Quentyn."
The room went silent.
"How long ago?"
"Almost thirty years."
"Why?"
"Because he was useful."
"How?"
"Families trusted him."
Rebecca laughed without humor.
"He could make greedy people feel like victims. He could convince adult children that taking their parents' money was not theft. Just early inheritance."
Evelyn thought of Livia.
That was exactly what Quentyn had done.
Rebecca continued.
"Helena understood something about families. Outsiders can steal money. Relatives can steal permission."
Miriam wrote quickly.
"Where is Quentyn now?"
Rebecca looked away.
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"Maybe."
"Rebecca."
The woman's eyes returned to Evelyn.
"He contacted me six days ago."
Everyone moved at once.
Daniel leaned toward the screen.
"From where?"
"He didn't say."
"What did he want?"
"Documents."
"Which documents?"
"His first records with Helena."
"Do you have them?"
"Yes."
"Did you give them to him?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because after thirty years, I'm tired of being afraid."
Evelyn felt an unexpected connection to her.
Rebecca said, "He also asked about Nathaniel Vance."
Miriam looked up.
"What exactly?"
"He wanted to know whether Nathaniel had ever contacted me."
"Did he?"
Rebecca hesitated.
"Yes."
"When?"
"Eight months ago."
Nathaniel died two months later.
"What did he give you?"
Rebecca did not answer.
Evelyn understood.
"The missing package."
Rebecca nodded.
"Why you?"
"Because Thomas told him I was outside the network."
"What's inside?"
Rebecca looked toward someone off-camera.
Then back.
"A ledger."
"We already have ledgers."
"Not financial."
"What kind?"
"A membership ledger."
Evelyn felt cold.
"Membership in what?"
Rebecca whispered, "The group existed before Quentyn."
"How far back?"
"At least forty years."
"Who is in the ledger?"
"Judges. Bank executives. Trust officers. Doctors. Politicians. Corporate advisers."
Miriam stared.
"How many?"
"More than two hundred."
Evelyn realized the case was larger than any of them understood.
"What does this have to do with my husband?"
Rebecca's eyes softened.
"Thomas discovered one name he could not understand."
"Whose?"
"Someone close to him."
Evelyn's heartbeat quickened.
"Who?"
Rebecca leaned closer to the camera.
"Before Thomas died, he believed someone inside the Harper family had been connected to Helena Cross long before Quentyn married Livia."
Samuel whispered, "Who?"
Rebecca looked directly at Evelyn.
"Thomas never told me."
"Then how do you know?"
"Because Nathaniel did."
Evelyn's voice tightened.
"And?"
"His missing package included a note."
Rebecca held up a photocopy.
Only one sentence had been written.
EV MUST LEARN THE TRUTH ABOUT 1978 BEFORE SHE SEES THE LEDGER.
Evelyn stared.
1978.
The year she married Thomas.
"What truth?"
Rebecca shook her head.
"I don't know."
Evelyn felt anger rise.
"You have the ledger."
"Yes."
"Then read the name."
"I did."
"And?"
Rebecca hesitated.
"There's a problem."
"What?"
"The Harper entry is coded."
"Meaning?"
"No full name."
"What does it say?"
Rebecca looked down.
"HARPER, E."
Evelyn stopped breathing.
Her own name began with E.
Evelyn Harper.
Miriam said immediately, "There could be other Harpers."
Rebecca nodded.
"Yes."
Samuel stared at his sister.
Evelyn felt as though the room had tilted.
"I was never involved in anything like this."
"I believe you," Rebecca said.
"Then why is my name there?"
"I didn't say it was your name."
"Who else?"
Rebecca looked uncomfortable.
"Do you remember Thomas's sister?"
Evelyn frowned.
"Elaine?"
Thomas's older sister.
Dead nineteen years.
"Yes."
Rebecca nodded.
"Elaine Harper."
E.
Two women.
Two possible names.
One dead.
May you like
One alive.
And somewhere in Canada, a ledger could answer which one.
